Wiper Party on The Spot Over Speculations of Issuing a Direct Ticket to Sonko.
The Wiper party has given light to what was alleged to issuing a direct ticket to Former Nairobi county Governor Mike Sonko to vie for the Mombasa Gubernatorial seat.
Anthony Mutisya 
Speaking during an interview at a local television channel, the Wiper party National Election Board (NEB) chairperson Agatha Solitei has confirmed that the party will conduct primaries or go through the consensus route if the candidates who have shown interest for the Mombasa county top seat.
Sonko was still an aspirant, according to Agatha, and the party had submitted his name for approval to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Solitei refuted rumors that the party had already given Sonko a straight ticket, claiming that the party had not yet chosen a candidate.
“We submitted his (Sonko's) name to IEBC on April 9 for the Mombasa gubernatorial position. We do have another aspirant who is the Kisauni Member of Parliament, Ali Mbogo, who has submitted his papers for the gubernatorial contest. “She said.
The Wiper elections boss further explained that Where more than one person has expressed interest in a post, it would be against the party constitution to issue a direct ticket without consent among the contenders. On Wednesday, April 13, Wiper will hold their primaries in Mombasa County.
Solitei went on to say that the gubernatorial primary in Mombasa would be postponed indefinitely to allow for talks among the candidates.
"We have two of them and we are in consultation with them and we are trying to reach a consensus. If we do not reach an agreement then we shall go for the contest,” she added.
The NEB chairperson's comments echoed Shakila Abdalla, the party's Secretary-General, who said the party was discussing with the two candidates to choose the best candidate to fight the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and United Democratic Alliance (UDA) candidates.
“As a party, we have our ways of sitting our members down. Right now we are in the negotiated democracy drive… If there is a way we can convince one of them to step down in favour of the other it will be better. But if negotiated democracy fails to succeed, then our next option will be nominations,” Shakila stated.
